2021 Norisring Race 1

2021 Norisring Race 1
The Norisring returned in 2021.
Race Information
Date	9 October 2021
No.	284 (15 of 2021)
Event	DTM Norisring powered by BWT 2021
Location	Norisring Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany
Format	{{{format}}}
Lap length	2.300 km (1.429 mi)
Distance	67 laps / 154.100 km (95.753 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Liam Lawson
Team	Red Bull AF Corse
Time	48.720
Fastest Lap
Driver	Nico Müller
Team	Team Rosberg
Time	49.414 on lap 36
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Maximilian Götz	Arjun Maini	Liam Lawson
Winner Team	Mercedes-AMG Team HRT
Time	56:30.701
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2021 Hockenheim Race 2		2021 Norisring Race 2

The 2021 Norisring Race 1, otherwise known as the DTM Norisring powered by BWT 2021 Race 1, was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the 2021 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Norisring in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, on 9 October 2021. The race, which marked the return of the Norisring to the DTM calendar, would see Maximilian Götz keep his title hopes alive with victory, having battled ahead of the main pretenders early on.

Qualifying saw Championship leader Liam Lawson score the first blow of the weekend, claiming pole position ahead of main rival Kelvin van der Linde. Best of the rest was Lucas Auer in third at the head of a quintet of Mercedes-AMGs, with Götz in the midst of that group in fifth.

The start of the race saw an even start from Lawson and van der Linde, resulting in the South African racer trying an ambitious lunge into the first hairpin. The lunge failed and resulted in the #3 Audi sliding wide, with Lawson having to take avoiding action, allowing Philip Ellis to sweep alongside the #30 Ferrari.

The Lawson-Ellis scrap lasted for half of the opening lap, before Ellis finally forced his way through exiting the Scholler-S. With that Ellis was away, as behind Nick Cassidy established a hold of third place ahead of Götz, who had followed the first starting New Zealander past Auer.

Götz was the man to watch during the early laps, with Cassidy and Lawson both falling to the charging #4 Mercedes-AMG before the end of lap seven. Three laps later and the sister car of Ellis was in the German racers sights, who duly provided little resistance to his title challenging stablemate.

The following laps saw Götz establish a handsome lead, with Ellis and Lawson making early stops to try and undercut the #4 Mercedes-AMG. That ploy failed as Götz would rejoin from his stop with a seven second lead when he stopped, as Lawson jumped Ellis, only to fall behind a rapid Arjun Maini instead.

The rest of the race would be about the fight for second, with Lawson crawling all over the back of the #36 Mercedes-AMG as the race wore on. They would steadily be caught by the recovering van der Linde, who would also draw Lawson's attentions away from the fight for second during the closing stages.

Yet, there would be no late changes to the order, barring an incredibly late stop from the lead from Cassidy that saw him drop back to fifth on track, with Götz sweeping to victory to keep his title bid alive. Maini claimed his maiden podium in second ahead of the scrapping Lawson and van der Linde, while Cassidy was right behind them in fifth on his debut. Auer was next up ahead of Daniel Juncadella and Nico Müller, while Maximilian Buhk beat early front runner Ellis to ninth.

Background

After seven rounds the 2021 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship arrived at the Norisring in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, on the second weekend of October for the season finale, after the late addition of the street circuit to the calendar. Indeed, having initially been scheduled for a date in July before being postponed, the return to the Norisring after the Speedweekend's full cancellation in 2020 was added late into the season, with the Nuremberg council agreeing to a date on 8 - 10 October. The circuit itself was unchanged for its first ever GT3 race, with the entry list also remaining relatively stable, barring the planned swap between Alexander Albon and Nick Cassidy in the #23 Ferrari.

A Belated Boost

The Balance of Performance calculations for the final race of the season had initially been announced before the trip to Hockenheim a week earlier, which had caused some consternation for BMW as their boost pressure had been dropped by 0.022 bar for that weekend. After failing to get an adjustment in their favour midway through the Hockenheim weekend, and set to receive an even lower boost pressure of 2.045 bar, BMW would get a break on the eve of the Norisring weekend, after AVL recalculated the BoP formula. The recalculation resulted in BMW's boost pressure being upped to 2.087 bar, after AVL and ITR found a discrepancy in the data they had used to calculate the original BoP for Hockenheim.

Outlined below are the BoP calculations and success ballast allocations for the 2021 Norisring Race 1:

2021 Norisring Race 1 BoP
Manufacturer	Weight	Boost/Restrictor
Audi	1,335 kg (—)	2 x 43 mm (—)
BMW	1,335 kg (—)	2.087 bar (▲ 0.018 bar)
Ferrari	1,335 kg (—)	1.638 bar (▲ 0.007 bar)
Lamborghini	1,305 kg (—)	2 x 42.5 mm (—)
Mercedes-AMG	1,335 kg (—)	2 x 37.5 mm (—)
2021 Norisring Race 1 Ballast Allocation
Lucas Auer	Liam Lawson	Maximilian Götz
25 kg	18 kg	15 kg

Lawson's Lead

Liam Lawson had returned to the top of the Championship with one round to go, the New Zealander having moved fourteen points clear as the trip to Hockenheim came to a conclusion. Indeed, Kelvin van der Linde had lost a potentially significant amount of ground courtesy of his penalties in Hockenheim, while behind Maximilian Götz and Marco Wittmann had just kept in the hunt in third and fourth with two races to go. In the Junior Championship Lawson's title winning lead had moved out to 146 points, with Sheldon van der Linde having held onto his fourteen point margin over Esteban Muth for second.

In the Teams' Championship AF Corse had inched closer to their maiden title in their rookie season as an entrant in the DTM, with the Italian squad 68 points clear with two races to go. Indeed, only Team ABT Sportsline and Mercedes Team Winward could deny AF Corse the title, with both needing to heavily outscore the Italian effort by a large margin in the first race at Norisring to keep their hopes alive. The Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, was over with two races to go, with Mercedes-AMG having established an unassailable 171 point lead.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 Norisring Race 1 is displayed below:

2021 Norisring Race 1 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Livery
3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	Lamborghini	Huracán GT3 Evo
11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	BMW	M6 GT3
12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	BMW	M6 GT3
18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke Motorsport	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
23	Nick Cassidy	AlphaTauri AF Corse	Ferrari	488 GT3 Evo 2020
26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	Lamborghini	Huracán GT3 Evo
30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	Ferrari	488 GT3 Evo 2020
31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	BMW	M6 GT3
36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
37	Lucas di Grassi	Team ABT	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
Source:

• Numbers with a green background indicate an entrant in the Junior Championship.
• Numbers with a black background indicate a guest entrant.

Qualifying

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2021 Norisring Race 1 are outlined below:

2021 Norisring Race 1 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	48.720	—	169.950 km/h	1
2nd	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	48.904	+0.184s	169.311 km/h	2
3rd	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	48.931	+0.211s	169.217 km/h	3
4th	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	48.938	+0.218s	169.193 km/h	4
5th	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	48.960	+0.240s	169.117 km/h	5
6th	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	48.986	+0.266s	169.027 km/h	6
7th	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	49.024	+0.304s	168.896 km/h	7
8th	23	Nick Cassidy	AlphaTauri AF Corse	49.038	+0.318s	168.848 km/h	8
9th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	49.189	+0.469s	168.330 km/h	9
10th	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	49.251	+0.531s	168.118 km/h	10
11th	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	49.270	+0.550s	168.053 km/h	11
12th	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	49.291	+0.571s	167.981 km/h	12
13th	37	Lucas di Grassi	Team ABT	49.292	+0.572s	167.978 km/h	13
14th	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	49.292	+0.572s	167.978 km/h	14
15th*	99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	49.444	+0.724s	167.462 km/h	18*
16th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	49.472	+0.752s	167.367 km/h	15
17th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	49.487	+0.767s	167.316 km/h	16
18th	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	49.517	+0.797s	167.215 km/h	17
19th	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	49.568	+0.848s	167.043 km/h	19
20th	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	49.753	+1.033s	166.422 km/h	20
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.
• * Flörsch served a three place grid penalty.

Grid

The starting grid for the 2021 Norisring Race 1 in shown below:

		11	Marco Wittmann	49.568			26	Esmee Hawkey	49.517			16	Timo Glock	49.472			37	Lucas di Grassi	49.292			5	Vincent Abril	49.270			51	Nico Müller	49.189			8	Daniel Juncadella	49.024			4	Maximilian Götz	48.960			22	Lucas Auer	48.931			30	Liam Lawson	48.720
	12	Dev Gore		49.753		99	Sophia Flörsch		49.444		31	Sheldon van der Linde		49.487		18	Maximilian Buhk		49.292		9	Mike Rockenfeller		49.291		10	Esteban Muth		49.251		23	Nick Cassidy		49.038		57	Philip Ellis		48.986		36	Arjun Maini		48.938		3	Kelvin van der Linde		48.904

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2021 Norisring Race 1 is displayed below:

2021 Norisring Race 1 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	67	56:30.701	49.527	25
2nd	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	67	+7.651s	49.541	18
3rd	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	67	+8.043s	49.454	153
4th	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	67	+11.678s	49.533s	122
5th	23	Nick Cassidy	AlphaTauri AF Corse	67	+11.974s	49.497	10
6th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	67	+14.593s	49.622	81
7th	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	67	+15.109s	49.641	6
8th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	67	+15.601s	49.414	4
9th	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	67	+24.629s	49.709	2
10th	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	67	+25.245s	49.622	1
11th	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	67	+29.361s	49.754
12th	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	67	+29.712s	49.807
13th	99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	67	+31.358s	49.815
14th	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	67	+32.163s	49.677
15th	37	Lucas di Grassi	Team ABT	67	+3:13.091	49.677
16th	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	65	+2 Laps	50.189
17th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	61	+6 Laps	50.099
Ret	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	31	Retired	49.944
Ret	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	28	Retired	49.996
Ret	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	5	Retired	51.861
Source:

• ³ Indicates a driver was awarded points for qualifying in the top three.
• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

• AF Corse declared as the 2021 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship for Teams' Champions.
  • This was the first title for AF Corse, and the first Teams' Championship title to be won by a team registered outside of Germany.
• Debut race for Nick Cassidy.
• Second victory for Maximilian Götz.
• Haupt Racing Team secured their second win as an entrant.
• First podium finish for Arjun Maini.

Standings

Liam Lawson had taken a step closer to the 2021 title after his pole and podium finish, with a sixth place finish enough for the New Zealander to claim the title in the finale, regardless of what his rivals could do. Indeed, the only drivers who could deny Lawson his maiden DTM title were Kelvin van der Linde, eighteen points behind, and Maximilian Götz, nineteen points back, both of whom would have to finish first or second just to challenge Lawson. Furthermore, Lawson had enhanced his title winning lead in the Junior Championship, with the fight for second between Sheldon van der Linde and Esteban Muth going onto the final day.

In the Teams' Championship the title had been claimed before the final battle of the campaign, with AF Corse having established an unassailable lead of 82 points ahead of the final bout. Team ABT Sportsline, their closest challengers, would hence face a fight for second in the finale, holding a 20 point advantage over Mercedes Team Winward in third. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, another impressive haul for Mercedes-AMG had enhanced their title winning advantage, while Ferrari had enhanced their hold on second ahead of Audi.

2021 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Liam Lawson 224 ◄0 2nd Kelvin van der Linde 206 ◄0 3rd Maximilian Götz 205 ◄0 4th Marco Wittmann 165 ◄0 5th Lucas Auer 134 ▲2 6th Alexander Albon 130 ▼1 7th Philip Ellis 128 ▼1 8th Mike Rockenfeller 77 ◄0 9th Daniel Juncadella 67 ◄0 10th Nico Müller 56 ▲1 11th Sheldon van der Linde 55 ▼1 12th Esteban Muth 41 ◄0 13th Arjun Maini 40 ▲1 14th Vincent Abril 30 ▼1 15th Maximilian Buhk 13 ◄0 16th Nick Cassidy 10 ▲7 17th Timo Glock 9 ▼1 18th Marvin Dienst 6 ▼1 19th Sophia Flörsch 6 ▼1 20th Esmee Hawkey 2 ▼1 21st Christopher Haase 1 ▼1 22nd Dev Gore 0 ▼1 23rd Markus Winkelhock 0 ▼1 2021 Junior Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Liam Lawson 224 ◄0 2nd Sheldon van der Linde 55 ◄0 3rd Esteban Muth 41 ◄0 4th Sophia Flörsch 6 ◄0

2021 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st AF Corse 364 ◄0 2nd Team ABT Sportsline 282 ◄0 3rd Mercedes Team Winward 262 ◄0 4th Mercedes Team HRT 233 ◄0 5th Walkenhorst Motorsport 165 ◄0 6th Mercedes Team GruppeM 67 ▲1 7th ROWE Racing 64 ▼1 8th Team Rosberg 55 ◄0 9th T3 Motorsport 48 ◄0 10th Mercedes Team GetSpeed 40 ◄0 11th Mercedes Team Mücke 17 ◄0 12th Team ABT 6 ◄0 2021 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes-AMG 559 ◄0 2nd Ferrari 364 ◄0 3rd Audi 343 ◄0 4th BMW 229 ◄0 5th Lamborghini 48 ◄0

References

Images and Videos:

• Liveries: byggxx, 'Rennwagen (2021)', dtm.fandom.com/de, (DTM Wiki/de, 2021), https://dtm.fandom.com/de/wiki/Kategorie:Rennwagen_(2021), (Accessed 29/05/2020)

References: